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Kokomo Tribune (Newspaper) - April 1, 1994, Kokomo, Indiana
Vol 143 No 208 Kokomo Ind KOKOMO lTllIBUNE CntinrtnH Friday April 1 1994 50 cents Last Supper revisited During Maundy Thursday observations United Methodist Church in last supper before his crucifixicjn members of the First reentown reenacted Christs and death on the cross The 13 men playing the various roles of Christ and his apostles based their pose on Leonardo da Vincis Last Supper paint ing Slides portraying various wellknown biblical scenes bor rowed from the Indianapolis Museum of Art were also shown during the presentation Tribune photo by Anne Farrar Delco snares radio contract with Toyota Premium audio systems slated for new large sedan By DAVE PHILLIPS Tribune staff writer Delco Electronics Corp will help recover a small portion of Americas trade imbalance with Japan when for the first time it begins supplying audio systems for Toyota Motor Corp this sum mer Capitalizing on Toyotas increasing reliance on American based suppliers Delco will pro vide two premium AMFM cas sette units for Toyotas new Avalon sedan to be built in Georgetown Ky Harman Interna tional the Northridge based parent of JBL Infinity and Harman Kardon will supply speakers and amplification under the agreement Toyota officials made the announcement during media pre views this week at the New York Show j The deal culminates years of courtship between Delco and Toy 3ta officials Delco Harman and oyota have spent two years developing the audio systems specifically for the Avalon is a significant milestone or us and further evidence of our growing relationship with Toy said Thomas J Sheehan of Delco Electronic Pacific Were excited Oily stuff pollutes creek By CATHARINE FERNANDO Tribune staff writer The black substance polluting the Wildcat Creek that a Kokomo resident reported 10 days ago to the Howard County Health Department has apparently made its way to Tippecanoe and Carroll counties The Lafayette Journal and Courier reported Wednesday that an Indiana Department of Natural Resources staff member investigated the frothing in the creek near Peters Mill Bridge where theres a stretch of rapids upstream Further investigation indicated the source of the pollu tion to be Kokomo which is located 40 miles east and upstream from Lafayette The pollution was reported two weeks ago by Helen Cleaver who lives at 217 S Purdum St She told the Howard County Health Department about the oilylooking pollution in the Wildcat Creek in the vicinity of the railroad trestle between vaile Avenue and Superior Street She said she has walked over the bridge across the creek for 28 years and was immediately aware of the changed appearance of the water The health board notified the Indiana Department of Environ mental Management which in turn told the local health agency to check it out Environmental health officer Bob Paulus took a sample of the substance from the creek which has been sent to a laboratory for testing Pam Koons who works in external affairs with the Indiana Department of Environmental Managment verified that the testing was being done and that it would be a few weeks before the results are known We think ifs cutting oil because its so heavy Thats why to have earned their Delco has supplied pressure sensors for Toyota s Georgetown Ky plant since 1989 and also sup plies pressure sensors for Fre mont New United Motor Manufacturing Co A joint project between General Motors Corp and Toyota NUMMI pro duces the Geo Prizm Toyota Corolla and Toyota compact pick up trucks Delco also provides Toyotas Japanese assembly oper ations with pressure sensors Harman will join more than 50 new companies that Toyota plans to add to its supplier ranks The Clinton administration has increased pressure on Japan to buy more goods to ease ongoing trade frictions between the two countries Automobiles accounted for the largest segment of Americas record billion trade deficit with Japan last year Though Toyota officials this week pledged to buy billion in auto parts by 1996 up from billion it previously pledged to purchase through 1994 company officials downplayed the political significance of the Delco contract Were genuinely interested in the products said Bar bara McDaniel a spokesperson for Toyotas Georgetown assembly plant It makes sense to increase business with suppliers that are close to Avalon Toyotas first sixpas senger large sedan will be built on a stretched Camry platform at the Georgetown facilitys new million expansion plant Designed for the market it is a replacement for the Cressida and will go on sale this fall Toy ota officials hint the Avalon may also be exported to Japan The largest Japanese passenger car Avalon will compete with Buicks Park Avenue Oldsmo biles Ninety Eight Lincolns Crown Victoria and Mercury Mar quis Toyota isnt making volume projections for the Avalon but the expanded Georgetown complex will have an annual production capacity of units for Aval ons and Camrys Last year Toy ota sold just under Cam rys its top model Nearly Cressida sedans were sold annual ly before the model was dropped in 1992 Delco and other parts mak ers have battled xiphill to gain more business with Japans transplants since Honda first built an assembly plant in Ohio in the early 1980s Japans electronics giants including Sony Panasonic Clarion Alpine Electronics and Fujitsu Ten followed Japanese vehicle makers by opening plants of their own Fujitsu Tens Kushville plant supplies audio systems for the Camry Delco with 1993 sales of billion established separate Asian and European business unite last fall to secure more transplant and nonGM sales Its international and nonallied sales increased 25 percent in 1993 to million White froth observed Thursday in Wildcat Creek below jthe rail trestle between Vaile Avenue and Superior Street Tribune photo by Tim Bath it sank to the Koons Meanwhile in Lafayette a com plaint was lodged Tuesday The i Department of Natural 1 Resources conservation officer noticed that the substance was only visible near riffles where choppy water churns up bubbles that accumulate near brush piles The officer could only investi gate the pollution as far as the i Howard County border where his jurisdiction ends Another conservation officer Dirk Harris who oversees the Howard Coun ty area was then contacted Koons confirmed that Harris had taken over this end of the investigation and that he had reported to the department the same observations According to the Courier and Journal report Harris suspects the frothing to be the intentional dumping of a black substance in Wildcat Creek near a large drainage sewer out let in southeastern Kokomo in Howard County Thursday morning in Kokomo the same frothy bubbling and churning caused by the sub stance was seen again in that sec tion of the creek below the trestle Upon visiting the site in the afternoon the bubbling had ceased but the black oilylooking substance which had settled to the bottom of the creek was clearly visible from the trestle Social Security proposes radical change to claims We believe the process is now broken and must be rebuilt WASHINGTON AP Social Security wants to cut the time and effort for handling disability claims the first major changes in the system in decades But cutting red tape may slice into some rights to appeal decisions Our current antiquated disability process has not changed in any important way since the beginning of the program in the 1950s and we believe that the process is now broken and must be Social Security Commissioner Shirley B Chater said Thurs day A team of agency employees and state disability experts drafted the proposal to redesign the way Social Security decides millions of applications for benefits Their blueprint would cut the number of days an application for benefits is shuffled from one in box to another and allow the person claiming disability to actually meet facetoface the worker who decides the case The proposal eliminates two of the four levels of appeal now available to applicants whose claims are denied on the first round But each applicant is assigned a Social Security employee who will steer the claim through a tricky maze of forms laws and requests for medical evidence The proposed changes are sure to prompt ques tions about dueprocess protections and the new ser vices promised to applicants by an agency that slashed its work force by a fifth in the 1980s and now finds itself unable to cope with a tidal wave of claims for benefits Rep Andy Jacobs chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security has already announced a hearing to examine the pro posal and those issues Social Securitys task force spent five months on its proposal crossing the country to visit field offices ana interview thousands of agency workers advo cates physicians attorneys and disabled Americans Inside today Local Coming up Sunday An exclusive interview with Pope John Paul II will be featured this Sunday in the Kokomo Tribunes Parade magazine The pope discusses the evolving ties between the people of two ancient religions Catholics and Jews Indiana University trustees approve instate tuition increase for 199495 school year Page 2 Sports Eastern is going to be the elite team in the Howard County track scene Page 8 Also inside Business Classified Local News of
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